SSN is a digest of the day's soccer/football/futbol articles with a focus on the top European leagues and the United States National Team. Below, you’ll find links to articles and video, as well as additional features and commentary. We locate the top news of the day so you can stay updated with ease.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Eight Premier League fixtures in a day is almost unheard of in these times, but that's what we've got on what promises to be an action-packed Saturday after the midweek Capital One Cup programme. Table-topping Chelsea meet unbeaten Arsenal at Emirates Stadium at lunchtime before Tottenham travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United, while Sunday plays host to the second-city derby between Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion.

Barcelona has invited three Palestinians to attend its Oct. 7 match against Real Madrid in response to Hamas calling for a media boycott of the club after it gave a complimentary ticket to an Israeli soldier.

The Football Association regulatory panel that found John Terry guilty of using the words "fucking black cunt" towards Anton Ferdinand may, at least partially, have accepted Terry's defence that he did not use the words as an insult. It is otherwise difficult to understand the panel's apparently lenient sanction, of banning Terry for four matches, while Liverpool's Luis Suárez was hit with an eight-game ban for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers will host his former club Swansea in the Fourth Round of the Capital One Cup. Manchester United have a tough away trip to Stamford Bridge to take on European Champions Chelsea, who beat Wolves 6-0 in the previous round.

Sunderland face local rivals Middlesbrough in a North East derby, while Arsenal head to Reading for an all Premier League clash.

League Two Bradford, the lowest ranked club left in the competition, face Wigan at the DW Stadium.

Wayne Rooney returned from a monthlong injury absence, helping Manchester United to a 2-1 victory Wednesday that eliminated Newcastle from the League Cup. Arsenal and Tottenham advanced with ease on Wednesday.

Didier Ya Konan scored twice to help Hannover climb to third place in the Bundesliga with a 4-1 win over Nuremberg on Wednesday. Hamburger SV was denied its second straight win when 10-man Borussia Moenchengladbach snatched a goal in injury time to earn a 2-2 draw at home. Stuttgart, Augsburg and all lost home. Stuttgart went down 3-0 to Hoffenheim, Augsburg lost 3-1 to Bayer Leverkusen, and Freiburg was beaten 2-1 by Werder Bremen. Bayern Munich, a 3-0 winner over Wolfsburg on Tuesday, leads the standings with a perfect record of five wins from five games and 15 points.

Stephan El Shaarawy scored twice to help crisis-ridden AC Milan to a much-needed 2-0 win against 10-man Cagliari in Serie A on Wednesday. Elsewhere, Edinson Cavani missed a penalty but scored a hat trick as Napoli beat title rival Lazio 3-0 to move level on points with defending champion Juventus at the top of the table. Inter Milan strolled to a 2-0 win at Chievo Verona, courtesy of goals from Alvaro Pereira and Antonio Cassano. It was a comedy of errors at Catania as the home side beat Atalanta 2-1.

"Throughout my career I smoked 10 cigarettes a day. Alcohol was also a problem. I burned everything off in training, but I lived on the limits,'' Almeyda said. "Once in Azul, my country, I drank five liters of wine, like Coca Cola, and I ended up in some kind of coma. To try to get it out of my system I ran five kilometers until I saw the sun spinning. "A doctor put me on a drip for five hours. It would have been a scandal as at the time I was playing for Inter. When I woke up and I saw my whole family around the bed, I thought it was my funeral.''

The Alabama experience is illustrative of a quiet national revolution. Social scientist Rich Luker, the creator of the ESPN Sports Poll, recently pronounced soccer to be America's second most popular sport for those aged 18-24.

Bayern Munich maintained their 100 per cent Bundesliga record with a 3-0 home victory over Wolfsburg on Tuesday evening. The result saw Bayern open up a seven-point cushion over Borussia Dortmund, the Westphalians having to settle for a point after relinquishing 2-0 and 3-1 leads against Eintracht Frankfurt.